Wednesday, 7 June 2023

Cruising the Moselle: Traben-Trarbach to Cochem, Germany

Another day on the Avalon Imagery II river cruise as she continues to sail down the Moselle toward the Rhein. I will have much to report about the ship and the cruise when the blog reaches the appropriate dates. The Moselle winds its way through France, Luxembourg, and Germany. It takes its time as it snakes around endless curves and through 14 locks (10 in Germany that we will pass through), to control its yearly floods and allow for major commercial shipping routes. But before Luxembourg and the Moselle comes Paris and Verdun.

Thursday-Saturday, 1-3 June 2023

Paris

Another early travel day as my short Air France flight to Paris leaves Heathrow at 9am. My private car picks me up at six and we reach the new Terminal 4 shortly before seven. But as you already know, my flight is delayed almost three hours and I sit and wait and wait and sit in the business class lounge. But one I arrive at Airport Charles de Gaulle, everything goes much more smoothly than it did a few days ago at Heathrow. A gentleman with a wheelchair is ready to take me through the formalities as soon as I exit the plane. When we discover the luggage is late getting into the terminal, he calls my driver on his own phone to assure him that I will be ready when he arrives to pick me up. He speaks excellent English and I don't have to fumble with my feeble French. In fact, everyone in Paris these days is more than happy to speak English--what a welcome change from the past.

I am staying at the Marriott Ambassador Opera Hotel, just two blocks from the Garnier Opera and one additional block from the Grand Magazines, les Printemps and Galleries Lafayette, Paris' two major department stores. The location is terrific, especially since walking distances in Paris are relatively short compared to other major cities. But the hotel itself is a little dowdy for the 600 Euros per night (I pay for one night, the Avalon tour pays the other two nights). One elevator (out of three) is out of order and there are problems with the consistency of temperature of the hot water. The included breakfast buffet is good, but I wouldn't recommend staying here.

Because of the flight delay I was a little concerned that I wouldn't make my 7:45pm dinner reservation at Le Fouquet's, a well-known and popular restaurant on the Champs Elysee.

I had made the reservation on line several months earlier when I first made plans for Paris. But I take a taxi so I won't be late and I am very happy indeed with dinner--served at a small table on the terrace where I could watch the fashionista of Paris stroll by with their expensive purchases, or at least the tell-tale shopping bags.

The pris-fixe dinner includes three courses and a glass of champagne--I add a second glass of champagne and coffee afterward.

   

First Course:  Country Terrine (the Yellow
Aroundthe Terrine is Pure Butter)

Second Course: Grilled Chicken Breast with
Asparagus in Bernaise Sauce

Third Course:  Recommended by the Waiter

 I had taken  a taxi to the restaurant, since I was short on time, but it was a pleasant, leisurely, and sobering walk back to the Marriott. And then Thursday was over.

On Friday, I meet Katy, the tour guide for the cruise, who seems a most amiable and helpful person. I get a private run-down of the activities in Paris and on the way to the cruise embarkation in Remich, Luxembourg. She also invites me for a wine reception later in the day to meet some of the other passengers. 

Then I am off to my pre-booked 10am self-guided tour of the Garnier Palace, familiar to most these days as the home of the Phantom of the Opera. Visitors are allowed to wander through the ornate lobbies and salons to get a glimpse of the auditorium and stage. It is very ornate, full of rococo overstatement, but much of the ornament is painted concrete, which creates a rather cold effect. But except for the crowds, it was a fun visit.

After a light lunch in Galeries Lafayette I go up to the rooftop terrace for views over almost all of the city.

Fortified and rested I head for a walking tour of the oldest parts of the city, L’Ile St Louis and L’Ile de La Cite, where the highlights are the Deportation Memorial and the vast construction project of Notre Dame de Paris. Enough for Friday.

On Saturday, instead of the morning bus tour that Katy offers, I prefer to go off on my own, since I have been to Paris a number of times. I visit the famous Rue Mcxxxx, located where the old Les Halles market stood before it was moved to the suburbs. This is a street of many blocks, lined by  bars and restaurants of every type and taste, wall to wall, and crowded with Parisians and tourists. I started to count the places to eat but stopped with the dizzying numbers.vvvvv

I’m I didn’t stop to eat because I had just had a big lunch of Charcuterie and ice cream at the Gallerie Vivianne. This part of Paris is home to a series of arcades (galleries) filled with shops, bars and restaurants. In a previous visit I spent an entire afternoon wandering through many of them. Sad to say, some of them have become rather shoddy, although Vivienne is still quite chic.